Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times
Broker Gene Guernsey (left), of Gene Guernsey &amp; Associates, shows a home to Jason Alamo near Yorktown Boulevard on Wednesday. Corpus Christi was featured in Forbes magazine earlier this month in the top 10 outperforming cities in the housing market recovery.

Corpus Christi Caller-Times

Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times
Jason Alamo (left) tours a property with the help of broker Gene Guernsey (left), of Gene Guernsey &amp; Associates, near Rodd Field Road on Wednesday. Corpus Christi was featured in Forbes magazine earlier this month in the top 10 outperforming cities in the housing market recovery.

Corpus Christi Caller-Times

Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times
Broker Gene Guernsey (left), of Gene Guernsey &amp; Associates, shows a property to Jason Alamo near Rodd Field Road on Wednesday. Corpus Christi was featured in Forbes magazine earlier this month in the top 10 outperforming cities in the housing market recovery. The market has shifted recently to a sellers’ market, real estate agents said.

Corpus Christi Caller-Times

CORPUS CHRISTI - As the U.S. continues to claw its way out of a Great Recession inducing housing market bust, the Coastal Bend gained attention for leading the recovery.

Forbes magazine earlier this month listed Corpus Christi in the top 10 outperforming cities during the recovery.

“It’s phenomenal. February is typically slow, but this year is fast paced,” Realtor Gene Guernsey said. “This is the best market we’ve seen in six years.”

The survey focused on metro areas that exceeded the rest of the country statistically. Corpus Christi ranked ninth among 146 cities nationwide, with its low unemployment and median housing prices. Most notably, real estate appreciation in the area grew 3.18 percent in 2012.

“We had a pretty good year in 2012,” Corpus Christi Association of Realtors President and CEO Gary Doran said. “We’re recovering well.”

The area housing market had success in 2012 not seen since 2007, according to the association.

Median sales price of a home sold in the Coastal Bend was $142,500 in 2012, an increase of 5.6 percent from 2011 prices.

As 30-year fixed-rate mortgages dropped to 3.88 percent, Corpus Christi experienced an increase of 16.8 percent in units sold in 2012.

The so-called housing bubble busted in 2007 after credit restrictions were lessened and subprime loans were given to buyers who were at a higher risk of defaulting. The realtor’s association lost almost half of its 1,500 members by 2011 after the market slowed.

“Numbers dropped off because we had Realtors who couldn’t make a living,” Doran said.

The Corpus Christi market has shifted to benefit sellers, with some buyers having houses swept away from them after making an offer.